Conferma, Visa Ink Mobile Virtual Card Pact

Eighteen months after initially rolling out its mobile wallet-based virtual card service, Conferma Pay is seeking to scale up the service via a new deal with Visa. The global agreement enables bank issuers to make Visa corporate virtual cards available through the Conferma Pay app for use by corporate travelers—and the payment network has made it easy for banks to do so, according to Conferma.

"Only minimal work is required on [banks'] part to turn this on," a company spokesperson said. "Visa has done a vast majority of the standardization and industrialization, so it's hassle-free for the banks."

One issuer, Singapore-based United Overseas Bank, already is offering the service to its corporate card customers. Conferma already has existing relationships with some 50 other existing Visa issuer partners for its booking system-based virtual card service, and the company plans to leverage those partnerships to quickly ramp up distribution via the app as well.

Conferma also already has in place a virtual card distribution deal with Mastercard, a pact the companies signed in 2018.

Since it began piloting distribution of virtual cards via an app update in early 2019, Conferma has touted the mobile wallet channel as a promising method for overcoming the challenges to using virtual cards for hotel check-in and in-trip payments. Instead of sending card numbers through the clunky fax-based process, cards can be loaded to travelers' phones, where they're stored in mobile wallets and subsequently used to make payments via contactless acceptance systems. Payments made via virtual card are subject to spending controls and budgetary limits, while transactions are reconciled directly with expense management systems.

And with the global Covid-19 outbreak expected to drive increased emphasis on physical distancing once travel resumes, contactless payments provide an added layer of safety as well, according to Conferma CEO Simon Barker.

"As business travel slowly begins again, travel managers will grapple with one question above all others: 'How do I keep my people safe?' " noted Barker. "The agreement we've struck with Visa means business travelers can pay with contactless, directly from the company bank account, using virtual cards lodged in their mobile phones. It's only a small part of the picture, but payments can play a role in helping us navigate this nightmare."